Cornflakes for lunch! German parents say open school before mum goes nuts

Women are bearing the brunt of home schooling and extra housework, according to surveys. That hurts efforts to promote diversity and narrow Germany's gender pay gap.

Job satisfaction of mothers has fallen by 5 percentage points more than that of fathers during the crisis, and they are more likely to have cut their hours or stopped working, according to a survey by the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB).

"Just as before the crisis, it is often the women who are putting back their careers to be there for the children," said WZB's social science Professor Lena Hipp, herself trying to fit in work around caring for three young children.

At SAP, co-CEO Jennifer Morgan, a mother of two, stepped down in April after only six months as the first female head of a German blue-chip company, leaving Christian Klein in charge.

SAP gave no reasons for her departure though Chairman Hasso Plattner suggested one leader was needed in this time of crisis. Klein, for his part, has made a point of mentioning his children at board meetings.

SAP has been monitoring the gender impact of the crisis. It says more women than men received promotions during March and April.

"Productivity has stayed the same but people are paying a higher price than in non-corona times, and how long they can keep it up will depend on relief for parents when schools can restart," said Cawa Younosi, the company's head of human resources in Germany.

Lehmann, working from home in Heidelberg in southern Germany, sees one positive upshot: the crisis has encouraged people to be more honest about the challenges of juggling a career and family.

"It is OK that you have a screaming kid in the background or a dog running around," she said. "Now I am talking about my kids with my team quite a lot so they can see it is possible to have kids and responsibility in the company."